Was Yudhishthir a real Dharmaraaj? Whats your opinion?

Posted: 2014-02-11T03:23:45Z

Dear devotee friends of Mythological Masti Forum, let me welcome
all of you to an open discussion

There is a similar topic in Mahabharat Forum, but I felt it
can be started here in a new way, as this is a scripture-based forum (unlike
Mahabharat forum which is based on a particular TV show) & here we can
discuss using various other versions of Mahabharat or any other Puranas as references
alongwith the original Vyas's Mahabharat, as we know there are different
opinions by different authors. Also, we can put here reference from any
research paper/book which we have read, thus we can give the topic a new
dimension Moreover, we have many wise
members here who can enlighten us by their logical analysis So why not to make our Mythological forum
active again?

Regarding the topic, I would request all members to post
their point of views. There are two main reasons standing against calling
Yudhishthir as Dharmaraaj, & they are:

1)
The game of dice in which he staked his kingdom,
brothers & wife.

2)
The only single false (actually half lie) he
uttered during Kurukshetra was to clear the way of Drona vadh.

I am posting my own thinkings in
next posts (just copying my posts from
Mahabharat forum with a little addition ). You definitely may agree or disagree
with any of my points with new logic, & please clarify me if I am wrong in
any place . Happy posting .

Posted: 2014-02-11T03:24:24Z

After reading the whole 18 parvas
of Mahabharat, I did not find any reason to dislike him. Even I have always
found him as an admirable & lovable person, in each & every parva.

Here are the reasons for which I
like him:

1) His Forgiveness & kindness: in Indian
culture, forgiveness is always marked as a great Dharma. This has made
difference between Greek epics & Indian epics. You will see only revenge
& enmity within Iliad & Odyssey, but in Ramayan & Mahabharat that
is neutralized by forgiving nature of warriors which makes them the greatest
epics of world forever! So forgiveness is Dharma, it's a common virtue of Satta
Guna. In Srimad Bhagabat Geeta, God Himself says, Adweshta sarvabhutanang maitrang karun eba cha/ Nirmamo nirahankara
samadukkhasukha kshami'. In Ramayan too, Shri Ram says a similar thing to
Lakshman when the later gets angry. In MB, Narad says Kshama cha paramam balam', kshama is the power. I know that we
Kaliyug people use to ignore this kshama shakti of Yudhishthir & do not
like this extreme goodness', extreme kindness' etc. But let's think once, if
The Almighty Himself was not full of this kindness, then what our condition
was!!! If God could not forgive us in regular manner then this universe would
not exist!! All incarnations of God, all Prophets & all Messengers of God
(in all Religions) have described the glory of this forgiving power. Also, this
is a rare virtue which was fortunately in Yudhishthir as a blessing of Lord.
Whenever I read MB, I become overwhelmed with his forgiving nature! He is there
like a very beautiful living idol of this great virtue! I personally think
that, we have many important lessons to learn from MB, within which
Yudhishthir's forgiveness is one! I think if any human of this Kaliyug can
accept even 1% of this infinite forgiving nature within own heart, he will be
nearer to God.

Also, I would like
to share some parts of MB to show the beauty of his kindness. He was well known
by almost all Dwapar people for this virtue only. In Aadi parva where gandharva
Angarparna (whose another name was Chitrarath) was defeated by Arjun, his wife
rushed to Yudhishthir for saving her husband's life. By Yudhishthir's order,
Arjun left Angarparna. Again in Van parva, where pandavas lived in Dwaitavan, the
deers of that place prayed to Yudhishthir only so that they leave Dwaitavan in
order to save their lives, that prayer was fulfilled too. He not only ordered
to save Jayadrath's life after Draupadi haran but also made him free from
daasatwa, because he knew then by his own experience the extreme pain of a king
to become a slave! I want to state another well known fact here, in spite of
knowing that many readers don't like it. Recall the Chitrasen incident of Van
parva. Duryodhan & co. went to see pandav's miserable condition, but by
God's wish they themselves were caught by gandharvas. All the ministers of
Duryodhan prayed to Yudhishthir & he could not refuse it due to his
infinite kindness & forgiveness. Do we think that he should have refuse then?
Then, dear friends, what is the difference between Yudhishthir & Duryodhan?
I personally think that, for this nature, he was able to get Lord's mercy &
blessings too, & Lord Himself joined his side in war.

2) Control of anger or suppressing anger: at some points it really seems that Yudhishthir had no
anger at all! His power of controlling/suppressing anger was surprising &
sometimes unbelievable! Definitely, this is related with his forgiving &
calm nature. Also, it made him a good leader & good king. Just think once,
if Bhim or Arjun were at his place as eldest brother, then they could not be
able to be a good ruler due to their excess anger & haste nature. A good
ruler always needs control of senses. Yudhishthir won in this point too. And this
power is undoubtedly another great Dharma. Also, he knew it well that if he
gets angry, then one single angry glance of him could burn the people who made
him angry (in Sabha parva, Vidur said that, for saving Duryodhan & Co's
lives he covered own face) as anger of Dharma is always very harmful for world.
Also from this point of view we can understand why he always suppressed his
anger.

3) Tolerance,
patience & calmness: Yudhishthir is a
peaceful & peace-lover person. I like this attitude very much. In order to
save peaceful atmosphere within the whole family, he tolerated many intolerable
incidents silently. This never means that he was not hurt by them, but he could
bear with any situation calmly & patiently. We can recall the situation
when within a jungle he suddenly found his dearest 4 brothers dead. He cried
& mourned very much then but had control on his mind. If he lost his
patience then, we could neither get the precious conversation between him &
the yaksha, nor were the 4 pandavas alive. Also, a knowledgeable person (Gyani)
can never be overwhelmed in grief (like The Lord says in Geeta). Yudhishthir
proves this too both here & in Mahaprashthanik parva.

4) Truthfulness: also, Yudhishthir
always spoke the truth & acted truthfully. When Bhim asked him to take 13
months as 13 years in vanvaas, he strongly replied that, I cannot do this.
This will be a false activity'. We know that his chariot never touched the
ground for this power of truthfulness.
Here I must say that I never count his lie about Ashwathama's death in
Drona parva, as it was necessary to save himself as well as for
Dharmasangsthaapan (which was a very very greater cause than his own truth
speaking Dharma, personal Dharma<< Universal Dharma), & also, he was
ordered by God to do so.

5) Intelligence: Yudhishthir's
intelligence is clear in finding the secret of lakshagriha. Also, he knew
English in that era, which came in use during Vidur's advice. In his
conversation with yaksha, we can see both his intelligence & knowledge of
Dharma.

6) Devotion to Krishna:
Yudhishthir knew who Krishna actually was, & he always surrendered himself
to Krishna. He was always dependent on Krishna. This surrendership can be
beautifully realized from some parts of Udyoga parva, especially when he sent
The Lord as his messenger. He always obeyed Shri Krishna like a true devotee,
even sacrificed his akhanda vrata of truthfulness when Shri Krishna ordered him
to do so.

7) A sign of Dharma: apart from the points I listed above, he was
very much obedient to his elders & was a perfect family member.
Unfortunately his family hurt him again & again, but he never wanted to
hurt his family back. He never wanted the terrible Kurukshetra war, till the
last moment he tried whole heartedly to stop it, even accepting his own lose.
When he sent the message to Duryodhan to do sandhi just by giving only 5 small
parts of land, then he forgave them once again & wanted to forget all their
vices with a happy ending. Despite of being the least responsible for the war,
he took all the blames of it on his own shoulder after the war finished!! I
always become emotional when he cried to Gandhari after war, I am that
heartless one, the slayer of your sons, curse me, mother' or wanted to leave
kingdom & go to forest again by giving everything to brothers. How many of
us can take all blames on us in a similar situation? Kaliyug people must learn
this from Yudhishthir, as blame shifting is a common nature of them.

I would like to
state two more dialogues by others. When Karna knew his true identity from Shri
Krishna, he told, do not expose this truth, if Yudhishthir comes to know that
I am his elder brother then he will no more accept his kingdom & will
handover it to me.' So we can see that, in spite of hating pandavas like
enemies always, Karna knew what kind of person Yudhishthir was. Lord Krishna
also said that, Yudhishthir never want to rule even the heavenly kingdom won
by adharma, but want to rule happily a small piece of land won by Dharma.' How
many of us can oppose these words uttered by God?

My personal opinion is, even if MB is an
imaginary epic story (though I never believe this), the great author Vyasdev
had put Yudhishthir on the head of all other pandavas (as eldest brother whose
order can never be violated by youngers, also youngers treated him as their
Guru, in many places of epic Bhim helplessly says, I could finish all evil but
can do nothing as Dharmaraj is my Guru & he does not allow me to do so')
only to establish the truth that, Dharma is always to be placed above
everything. Dharma is always over physical strength, energy, and all kind of
external heroic activities. To show it he placed Dharmaraj Yudhishthir as the
leader of mighty Bhim & greatest archer Arjun. Thus the message became
clear to us, physical power & skill can be glorified if & only if they
are ruled & controlled by Dharma.' Without this guidance of Dharma, Bhim's
extreme anger might cross its limit & did any adharma. We can recall a
picture. After braking Duryodhan's knee at the last battle, Bhim was kicking
his head. Then Yudhishthir scolded him, you have done whatever you wanted
& your oath has been fulfilled. Now don't cross the limit of Dharma. Do not
touch this man's head with your feet.'

Last but not the
least, with my very small brain & understanding power, I never dare to
judge the ocean like epic MB as well as any of its ocean like great characters.
So I try to find Lord Krishna's opinion in every case. As a devotee I have
complete faith on His words. From this point of view, I can never dislike the
person chosen by my Lord for His Dharmasangsthaapan. The person who was always
addressed as Dharmaraaj' by my Lord can never be a performer of any adharma,
that's what I strongly believe.

Posted: 2014-02-11T03:24:57Z

ABOUT THE DICE
GAME:

I would request
all members to read the whole Dyutaparvadhyaya from original epic if anyone has
not read it yet. If you read it from the starting, you will find that how
cunningly Yudhishthir was trapped from all sides. Duryodhan & Co. arranged
things such a way that Dhritarashtra was bound to send a message like an order
to the Indraprastha king, & that was also by Vidur, not only the eternal
well wisher minister of Hastinapur but affectionate uncle of pandavas, who had
saved their lives just some years before from lakshagriha. Dhritarashtra &
his dear sons thought that Yudhishthir will never disobey the order of
Hastinapur king as well as of his jyeshtha taata, but if any chance that target
got missed then their second weapon was Vidur as the messenger!! They thought
that pandavas would not have any doubt to accept this invitation as they
respected & trusted Vidur always. But here, Yudhishthir understood the
trap, & asked suggestions from Vidur. As a messenger helpless Vidur could
not do as much he should. But we can see
that, in spite of loving the dice game personally, Yudhishthir was trying to
avoid it again & again. Because there was nothing dearer to him than
Dharma. [Also, in that era, a kshatriya could never turn his face from a
dice game challenge, & Yudhishthir was a king, so if he refused to play,
people might blame him as miser who dared to stake his newly achieved wealth] Even after reaching to the spot, just before
the game was started, he calmly & respectfully told Shakuni again &
again, Dyut is not fair, it causes too much blunder. Please do not defeat me
by adharma' as he knew Shakuni's character very well. He knew Shakuni would
obviously win by adharma or by cheating. Also, the process of Shakuni was
unknown to Yudhishthir, & he never understood that process of cheating due
to his simple honest nature (that process of cheating can also be understood by
careful reading of that part, but there is no need to describe it here). Also,
he neither expected nor wanted his own win, I do not want anything coming from
cheating' (Nikritya kaamaye naahang sukhanyuta dhanani ba'), only had a fear of
losing everything which actually happened. [Many people treat him as a gambler
to which I disagree. If he was really a gambler then he definitely became a
master of that game but it is clear that he could not play well. He loved the
game but not gambling. Loving a game is not an offence especially where we know
that he did not play to cheat or harm anyone. Also, why would a gambler request
a person like Shakuni not to cheat? Poor fellow tried even to teach Shakuni
what Dharma is!]

Also he protested when Duryodhan said that
Shakuni would play on his behalf, but at that very moment Dhritarashtra entered
into the spot & Yudhishthir's voice was totally ignored by all. So his
destiny did not allow him to stop the game, as Shakuni was desperate enough;
also the blind king was totally deaf to Yudhishthir's words to Shakuni. And all
the elders of family with two Gurus present there were not reacting at all. In
such a circumstance how Yudhishthir could conclude with his own intention I
will not play' & leave the place? I think he was trapped within that
horrible dyutasabha just like Abhimanyu within chakrabyuha from which he could
not exit.

[I gave such
detailed narration only to show the background of conspiracy which trapped an
honest person. I think it's necessary to understand clearly before blaming only
Yudhishthir for dyutakrida.]

Now coming to the game. From the very first part, Shakuni started cheating which
is clearly mentioned there; after sometimes only Vidur protested but failed to
stop the game. I think Bhishma was silent in fear of insult from Duryodhan,
which was faced by Vidur. But nobody could even imagine what a dangerous
incident was going to happen! I treat the staking of Indraprastha people with
their properties was even bigger blunder than staking own brothers. But he
expected to win at least once (in spite of knowing that Shakuni was cheating
him) to get back all the things he lost, & also, there was no way to escape.
So he continued the game & when there was nothing to stake, he put Nakul
first & then all his brothers.

Now it's needed to realize, if it was not a game but a war & all weapons became
destroyed by the enemy, then what should a warrior do? Will he leave the battle
field? No, it's not possible for a true kshatriya. Then he must apply any other
things as weapons, in order to save himself & also to defeat enemy. Here,
in this war like dice game, Yudhishthir lost everything & thus his all
weapons became destroyed. Then there were only two ways for him. First is
obviously leave the game, & second is to continue that by staking brothers.
Certainly he thought that there is still chance to get back his kingdom (not
from selfishness but from the guilt feeling of staking Indrapastha people, as a
kind & loving king he could not put his people on Duryodhan's hand, also,
if he won by staking brothers, even after staking Bhim, he could get back
brothers too along with the kingdom) but unfortunately it did not occur. As a
king's duty he staked his most beloved brothers, gave more importance to
professional duty (as a king) than family duty (as eldest brother). Then he
staked himself with a false dream to get back his brothers at least. He even
sacrificed his own freedom & honor (just think, an emperor who performed
Rajasyua was going to be an ordinary slave) only to get back those brothers who
were dearer to him than his own life!! But God did not want his success that
day (definitely Krishna was waiting for the maximum vice by villains) & he
also became the slave.

The extreme
suffering could be finished here. But how can this be possible when Shakuni
already knew that Draupadi had insulted Karna & laughed at Duryodhan, and
Duryodhan violently wanted to take revenge on Draupadi? So there was more pain
waiting for poor pandavas. Yudhishthir could never even think to stake
Draupadi. If thought then he could not stake himself. When he staked & lost
himself too, then it was clearly declared by his side that I have nothing
more', but he never thought to stake their darling wife for a single moment.
But Shakuni could not forget this. He created another trap which made
Yudhishthir expect that there is a last chance to win as well as to get back
everything. As he staked his brothers to regain the kingdom, & staked
himself to regain brothers, then he staked Draupadi to regain himself as well
as brothers & everything he lost.

And obviously, he
was never even prepared for such terrible deeds done by Duryodhan, Karna &
Dushshashan just after a few minutes. When Yudhishthir staked Draupadi, he
expected his win at that last chance which I mentioned before, definitely he
was not sure about his success specially after so many times of failure, but I
guess he was thinking that Draupadi was already wife of 5 slaves, now even if
he fail again, then Draupadi would be a slave herself, & there is no a big
status difference between a slave & a wife of slave. That was Yudhishthir's
maximum imagination about how much suffering Draupadi would have to face if he
lost her. But he was completely unable even to guess that Duryodhan & Co.
would drag their sister in law into the court!! His honest & innocent mind
could never imagine that his own cousin brothers would behave with Draupadi
like animals, & that's too in front of king Dhritarashtra, all elders of
family & two Gurus. Noble persons generally treat the whole world from a
pure viewpoint & with such mentality; Yudhishthir was not ready for the
upcoming scenes as he thought Duryodhan could not be so mean & cruel. If he
could understand this miserable future of Draupadi, I am almost 99% sure that
he never staked her.

With the next
intolerable incidents, we feel always shocked while reading that part. But just
try to think, what Yudhishthir's mental condition was then!!! Please do not say
that he did not love Draupadi, in starting of Virat parva he beautifully said,
this is our beloved wife, even dearer than our lives, and she deserves care
like our mother & honor like eldest sister' (Iyang hi na priyaa vaaryaa
praanebhyohapi gariyasi/ Maateba paripalyaa cha pujyaa jyeshtheba cha swasha').
If we are hurt by Draupadi's miserable sufferings, then just try to imagine the
immense agony of this husband who had such an extreme love towards wife. Being
mere readers if we cannot tolerate this, then how was its effect on this
husband who treated his wife as praanebhyohapi gariyasi'? You know that when
wives of kauravas were in danger by gandharva army's attack, he was Yudhishthir
who first thought to save the honor of women of his family. This person who had
so much kindness to wives of enemies, how was his condition when his own
beloved wife was dishonored? With great shock, he could not utter a single word
even when Bhishma was shifting the total responsibility on him. Also he was
thinking that he was the only guilty & responsible for all sufferings of
his brothers & Draupadi, so he became silent, even when Bhim wanted to burn
his hands or took his two famous oaths, Yudhishthir did not react at all. Last
but not the least, he was a slave then & could not protest against his
masters (this is utterly painful that Dharma became a slave of adharma) &
also, he could not do so in front of king & all elders. All the pandavas
had to tolerate that massive torture like imprisoned ones, as their status was
changed from king/prince to slaves, but that does not mean that they did not
feel Draupadi's sorrow. I agree to the point that he should protest but then
the same complain can be done in case of Bhishma, Drona, Kripa & of course
king Dhritarashtra. What I want to say that alone Yudhishthir was not
responsible for the whole matter.

Posted: 2014-02-11T03:25:31Z

ABOUT THE HALF-LIE
DURING WAR:

As I said before,
I never count it as a sin. It was God's order, You have to utter lie in order
to save so many lives, by doing this, you will not be a sinner', here I can
realize Yudhishthir's mental pain to break his truthfulness. A person who never
lied in whole life, how was his dilemma when he was going to break it? But he
did this for greater cause (helping Lord Krishna in fulfilling His Mission Dharmasangshthaapan')
just like Vasudev did, broke his promise to bring The Lord to this earth. Also
I like his attitude to follow Krishna blindly which even Arjun failed to do,
Lord Himself had to break His promise & take Sudarshana in hand to slay
Bheeshma, but reason was Arjun's failure in following Geeta upadesh. Bheeshma
Dev too, could not break his promise & to be loyal to Hastinapur throne,
became silent during dice game & joined adharma side. Though I can
understand Arjun's heart at that time or Bheeshma's immense agony, I must say
that only Yudhishthir sacrificed own truthfulness for Dharma & for God.
Gopis of Vrindavan sacrificed even their shame & fame for Krishna, but we
cannot mark then as unchaste women as they sacrificed everything &
surrendered them to Lord. Similarly who sacrificed his truthfulness, his
dearest wealth, & surrendered it to Krishna's Feet is always respectable
for us.

Posted: 2014-02-13T01:07:11Z

There are many who do believe that Yudhishthira crossed all limits when he staked his brothers and wife at the dice game.

Even if that be so, didn't he absolve himself, redeem himself when he brought them back to life after they had been struck dead by the Yaksha of the Lake?

Yes, the junior pandavas were reduced to slavery by their eldest brother, but didn't they also owe their lives to him?

It was indeed Yudhishthira's self control, deep knowledge, wisdom - and most importantly sense of fairplay- that gave them a new lease of life.

So if Yudhi gets minus points for converting them into slaves, he also gets plus points (several) for giving them punar janam

And another thing which occurs to me these days- We find several people complaining that What Yudhishthira did was unpardonable, staking one's brothers and wife is unforgivable, etc etc.

But, even after all that happened in the Dice Hall, even after all that happened in the subsequent years, B,A,N,S only had the highest respect for their eldest brother. Yes, there were occasional outbursts of temper, but they never failed to give Yudi the respect due to a head of the family.

If, then, all was forgiven and forgotten b/w them, who are we- several thousand years later, to pass judgments on him?

Posted: 2014-02-13T11:48:20Z

Beautiful posts Sema and Varaali! I thoroughly enjoyed reading your explanations and the direct passages from the epic. I definitely do respect Yudhisthir as Dharmaraja. The mere fact that Lord Krishna always supported them is proof to me that all five Pandavas were Dharma incarnate, or else God would never have been on their side. For me, whatever Lord Krishna says and does is the ultimate truth, so I don't think we as mere human beings have a right to question it.

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